Light's Ladder (Pacific Northwest Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Christopher Howell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004 | Series: Pacific Northwest Poetry Series

In this extraordinary new collection by distinguished poet Christopher Howell, the opening poem presents us with a spiritual paradox that will echo throughout its pages. The speaker remembers an earlier time of happiness, freedom, and a certain innocence. The poem closes with: And if he remembers now he is in love, which is the soul's condition,and alone because that is how we live. "How we live" is the book's major inquiry; its illustration, the poems' major achievement. How do we live, in our dailiness, in our loves, our private and global wars? "And, in the face of unbearable grief, how can we live?"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr; 1 edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295984007
• ISBN-13: 978-0295984001
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,535,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Howell's poetry graces the world with precision and beauty!, August 24, 2007

By 

Shann Ray "fan of great lit" (Spokane, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light's Ladder (Pacific Northwest Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Winner of the Washington State Book Award, Light's Ladder reveals beneath the surface of the collective dream of family and serenity, the nearly un-nameable grief of losing a child to early death. In this his eighth collection, Christopher Howell's poems move with the rhythms of a soulful blues elegy whose artistic engine is precise and worshipful, and graced by a love that faces the unknowable with humble brokenness and enduring hope. Seamless, imbued with fire, Light's Ladder is a gift of understanding, even joy, in the midst of unrelenting sorrow.